Combination-lock for plug-and-socket fixtures.



G. I. SILBERT.

COMBINATION LOCK FOR PLUG AND SOCKET FIXTURES.

APPLICATION FILED rmmo, 1911.

1,073,295. Patented Sept. 16,1913.

smmnnmiiil INVENTOR J v Gustaf 11317667 1 UNITED STATES PAJEEN'A. 4orsios.

GUSTAF I. SILBERT, F GHICAGO, YLLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY HESNE ASSZGNMENTS,T0 CHI-ILLE'LECTRIC COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A GORPORATION 938ILLINOIS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 16, 1913.

Applicatienfiled February 20,1911. Serial No. 609,657.

I of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Combination-Locks forPlug-and-Soc et Fixtures; and I do hereby declare that e following is afull,

' tion clear, and exact description thereof, refer ence being had'to theaccpm nying drawings,-and to the characttr of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in combination locks for pl andsocket electric fixtures, such as electric lamps, plugand cordattachments, adapter fixtures and the like, wherein one member is lockedto the other by a combination lock mechanism of the general ty e shownin my pending a plicafor nited States Letters Fatent, Serial No.572,482, filed Jilly 18th, 1910.

Among the objects of the present invention is to provide an improvedlock mechanism for -such fixtures arranged to avoid the necessity of adial on one of the parts and a coiiperating indicator ,on the other partto facilitate the release of'the locking elements, thereby enabling thelocking elements to be released from each other in compare tive dark andinaccessible places.

Another object ofthe invention is to im-' prove the general constructionof such locks and the invention consists in the-metters hereinafter setforth. and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

tially in elevation and partially in section of alamp base and socketmounting embodyin my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view 0 the base memberof the lamp, with' parts broken away. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the,ppper part of the lamp base showing the ock tumblers carried thereby.

Fig. 4 1s a plan view of one of the tumblers and combined spacing ringand tumbler pro cction.

tion of the sheet metal socket cup. Fig. -7 is a cross section showing amodified form of clicking member. Fig. 8 is a detail illustrating' amodified form of spring-pressed element adapted to cooperate with theclicking member of the base or socket.

In the drawings-Figure 1 is a view par- Fig. 5 is a similar view ofanother tumbler. Fig. 6 is an axlal sec- As shown in the drawings, 10designates a porcelain or other insulating body of 'a socket and 11designates the base of an electrio lamp having a reduced end to entersaid socket. I The insulating body 10 is res cessed at its lower end toreceive a sheet metal socket cup 12 which carries on the inner surfaceof its cylindric wall 15 a series of spaced, angularly separatedprojections 14 with spaces 16; between them and which constitute thefixed elements of the combination lock. The said cup may bev made ofsheet metal by a, stamping. or swaging' operation, and the spaced,angularly separated locking projections 14 may be formed therein byshearin 'themetalof the cylindric wall 15 inwar ly as shown in Fig. 6,so as to leave the spaces 16 between sa'd projections. he base 11 formedat its inner end with a concentric tubular extension or neck 18 which islooseiy surrounded by a sheet metal tumbler bear in;; sleeve 19. Thelower end of said sleeve is enlarged at .20 td fit closely in the outerend of the socket cup 12, and said enlarged end.20 isformed with a notch21 to engage a projection 22 formed on the innercylindr1c wall of thecup to prevent the tumbler sleeve from turning in the cup when the baseextension is inserted thereinto. Mounted on said tumbler sleeve and freeto rotate thereon are one or more tumblers 24, 25, two being hereinshown.

2t designates a third tumbler, which is fixed to the end of the tubularextension or neck 18 of the base, ima manner hereinafter described, sothat said latter tumbler turns with the base extension or neck. Thetumblers 26, 25 and 24 are spaced from each other by spacing rings 28,which preferably have the form of thin open rings that may be made ofclock spring stock. T he lower loose tumbler is spaced from theenlargement 20 of the tumbler bearing sleci'c by means of a curvedspring Wire 30 which is provided at one end with :1 lug or extension 31adapted to extend upwardly through one of a plurality of angulurlyseparated opening 32 of ,thc tumbler Q4. Arranged overthe upper fixedtumbler 26 is a second curved spring wire 33 that is provided with adownwardly extending "end or lug 34-. which is'adaptcd to extend throughone of aplurality of angulnrly separated openings (or other form ofplug) is i 35 in the upper fixed tumbler 26. The said extensions or lugs31 and 34 of the wires 30 and 33 are adapted to cooperate with logs onthe intermediate tumbler consisting as herein shown of a pin 36 whichextends through a suitable opening in the inter mediate tumbler. Thelugs 31 and 34 constitute tumbler controlling lugs or elements by whichthe freely rotative tumblers l4 and are controlled through the medium ofthe fixed tm'nbler 2G and its lug 34 in a manner familiar in combinationor permutation locks.

The combination of the lock may be changed by removing the Wires 33 and30 from their tumblers and inserting their lugs through other openings32 and 35 of the lun'iblers, as will be evident, thereby providing for awide range of variation of adjust:

mcnt. The said tumblers 24, 25 and 26 are provided with a. plurality ofperipheral, angularly iarated notches 38 adapted to pass over theprojections or shoulders 14 of the socket cup 12 when said notches arearranged in line with each other, as shown in Fig. I i. When the lamp isto be locked to the socket, the said notches are thus arranged in linewith each other and the base or plug extension is inserted into thesocket. Thereafter the base is turned or rotated to angular-1y shift thetumblers into the notches 16 between the projections 14 andthereby lockthe base in the socket. In this manner the lamp base or plug is lockedin the socket and can be released only by angular transposition of thetumblers in a predetermined cxmccrted order for which the tumblers havebeen previously arranged. In rotating the lamp base or plug to transposethe tumblers to releasing position, the innermost tumbler 26 is rotateddirectly by the lamp base, and the loosely mounted tumblers 24 and 25are rotated indirectly thereby through the interaction of the lugs 31,34 and, 36 until the notches 38 of the tumblers are brought into linewith the projection 14 of the socket cup.

In order that the tumblers of the lamp base or plug may be thusangularly transposed without the necessity of employing a dial on theone part to coiipcrate with a pointer or ind cator on the other part,one oi said parts is provided with an annular notched member and theother part is providcd with a yielding click device arranged to passover said notched member in such a way that upon rotation of one of theparts the passing of the click device over the notched member willaudibly indicate the extent of angular movement of the movable part; andthe relation of the parts are so arranged that the movable partis turneda predetcrniincd angular distance in one direction and a predetermineddistance in the other direction, as indicated by the clicking sound asthe-click device passes over the curved notched member, until thenotcbes of the tumblers have been brought into line with the projectionsl t-of the socket cup.

As herein shown (Figs. 1, 2 and 3) 4O designates a sheetmetal ringprovided Wlth a flange 41 which closely fits over the upper end of thebase extension" or neck ]8 and is fixed to turn therewith. Thehorizontal portion of said ring is provided throughout its. principalpart with a plurality of angularly spaced notches 42, and with a smoothor unnotc-hed portion 43. The upper end of the cup is provided with aclicking device consisting of a spring 14 having a downwardly turned,rounded terminal 45 adapted to be pressed by the resiliency of thespring into engagement with the notched ring 40. The terminal end 45 ofthe spring permits the notched ring or member to be turned in eitherdirection.

The parts are so arranged that the spring 44 produces an audible clickeach time it passes over one of the notches. \Vhen it passes over thesmooth or unnotched portion no clicking is heard. Therefore, startingwith the spring on the unnotched portion 43 of the ring 40 the base orplug is turned in one direction until a predetermined number of clicksare heard, is thence turned in the other direction for a predeterminednumber of clicks, and so on until the notches 38 of the tumblers arebrought into line with each other and with the projections 14 of thesocket cup 12, whereupon the base or plug may be removed from thesocket. The audible'clicking provided for enables the lock to bereleased without the necessity of employing av dial on one of themovable parts to cooperate with a pointer or indicator on the otherpart, thereby permitting the lock to be released in dark and otherrelatively inaccessible places.

The notched clicking ring 40 may be attached to the extension or neck ofthe base by having the end of the base extension flanged t-hereover, asindicated at 50 in Fig. 1, with the ring notched to press the metal ofthe neck therein to afford an interlocking connection. as indicated at51. The innermost tumbler may likewise be notched to receive outwardlypressed parts 52 of the neck to fix said tumbler thereon. Obviously thesaid clicking ring and innermost tumbler may be otherwise non-rotativclyfixed to the extension or neck of the base or plug. Instead of employingthe leaf sprin 44 as the clicking device, I may provide the plunger formof device 53 shown in Fig. 8, which is backed by a spring 54 located i asocket in the socket body 10.

In Fig. 7 is shown a form of notched ring 55 wherein the notches 56 forengagement with the clicking device are formed on the edge of the ring.In this form of ring it will usually be made of somewhat heavier gagethan in the device shown in the other figures.

One side of the lamp (or plug) circuit is closed through the socket cup12 and through bolts 60 by which the socket cup is attached to theinsulating socket body, and the other side of the circuit is closedthrough a yielding terminal 61 and a sleeve surrounding the outer endthereof and bearing on the central terminal of the lamp base, as shownin Fig. 1.

The construction may be varied within the scope of the invention and Ido not wish to be limited to the details shown except as suchlimitations are imposed by the prior art. For instance. the clickingdevice and notched ring may be reversed with the former on the plug orbase and the latter on the socket.

I claim as my invention 1. In an electric plug and socket fixture, asocket, a fixed cup shaped member therein provided at its annular wallwith angularly spaced locking projections, a spring controlled memberextending through the end wall of the cup shaped member, a plug adaptedto enter said cup shaped member and provided with tumblers to engagesaid projections, and a ring carried by said plug member and having aterminal which extends inwardly beyond said end wall and a plug adaptedto enter and to be locked to the angularly spaced projections of saidcup shaped member and provided with a circular ring member having asmooth and a notched port-ion for engagement with the terminal of saidspring.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix mysignature in the presence of two witnesses, this 16th day of February A.D. 1911.

GUSTAF I. SILBERT.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM L. HALL, WILLIAM GOLDBERGER.

cm of this patent fliay be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

